Between the teasing Cannes reports about the 7 minutes of screened Django Unchained footage and the promise of the first official trailer playing before Prometheus upon its June 8th release, things are looking pretty grim for all of us who are too lazy to go to France or the movie theatre. Fortunately, six new stills from the film have been released, so we can construct our own trailers with nifty cross-fading, star wipe effects and sexy R&B ballads. Enjoy.
There’s nothing too drastically different from the first two photos released last month– the general bad-assery remains consistent. With these new ones, however, we can just begin to fill in the gaps in the plot that involves Django (Jaime Foxx) and German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) trying to rescue Django’s wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) from the deliciously named, evil plantation owner, Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). From the evidence available, it seems that Django and Schultz get lost and wander up North until Schultz decides to stop, take off his five jackets and shoot people for directions. While that goes on, Django temporarily becomes a scarf model for an artist (a cameo by Quentin Tarantino) who looks to be creepily interested in other parts of Django beyond the scarf. After these wacky hijinx reach their natural conclusion, the duo arrives at “Candyland”, Candie’s plantation, where Django smokes a cigarette until Candie takes it from him and launches into an extended metaphor about how owning slaves is like having a cigarette. Will the metaphor work? Or will it fall apart? We’ll have to see the movie to find out.
In case you were hoping for a real synopsis, here is the official one– but be warned, it possibly spoils the first half of the film’s plot:
Set in the South two years before the Civil War, DJANGO UNCHAINED stars Academy Award®-winner Jamie Foxx as Django, a slave whose brutal history with his former owners lands him face-to-face with German-born bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Academy Award®-winner Christoph Waltz). Schultz is on the trail of the murderous Brittle brothers, and only Django can lead him to his bounty. The unorthodox Schultz acquires Django with a promise to free him upon the capture of the Brittles – dead or alive. Success leads Schultz to free Django, though the two men choose not to go their separate ways. Instead, Schultz seeks out the South’s most wanted criminals with Django by his side. Honing vital hunting skills, Django remains focused on one goal: finding and rescuing Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), the wife he lost to the slave trade long ago. Django and Schultz’s search ultimately leads them to Calvin Candie (Academy Award®-nominee Leonardo DiCaprio), the proprietor of “Candyland,” an infamous plantation. Exploring the compound under false pretenses, Django and Schultz arouse the suspicion of Stephen (Academy Award®-nominee Samuel L. Jackson), Candie’s trusted house slave. Their moves are marked, and a treacherous organization closes in on them. If Django and Schultz are to escape with Broomhilda, they must choose between independence and solidarity, between sacrifice and survival… ‘
Between the Weinsteins’ confidence in the footage, the overwhelmingly positive Cannes buzz and the hints of another perfect Tarantino soundtrack (that may feature Johnny Cash and James Brown), Django Unchained is still en route to being this year’s best Christmas gift.
Find Tarun Shanker directly on Twitter @tuna365 and remember to follow @ScreenInvasion!
